Series 3 Verizon FIOS HD compat?

I have the exact same situation as you mae. Cancelled comcast on 3/24 with an effective date of 4/2. They tell me they cannot cancelled me until 4/13 but they will backdate/refund any charges as of 4/2.

When we moved locally we had overlapping service from Comcast. They did the same thing: charged us through the end of the billing period for our orignal house initially and then subsequently credited us the difference on the new account...eventually. But it was a bit of a mess when they crossed up both accounts; discontinued some services on the new one and thought they had changed the old one, etc. Took several months to clean up.

With regard to how they handle things it appears that it's really a local issue. Often Comcast acquired a local cable provider at some point and just kept their policies intact (as long as they benefited Comcast). The inconsistencies in service, quality, support, etc. are legend. I can't really complain about our service though. They've been fairly decent throughout. Too bad they've boosted our "Triple Play" rates over $200/mo. in one year. We're going to end up with about the same services with more HD, better PQ and faster broadband for almost half the price from VZ. Such is life.

When we moved locally we had overlapping service from Comcast. They did the same thing: charged us through the end of the billing period for our orignal house initially and then subsequently credited us the difference on the new account...eventually. But it was a bit of a mess when they crossed up both accounts; discontinued some services on the new one and thought they had changed the old one, etc. Took several months to clean up.

With regard to how they handle things it appears that it's really a local issue. Often Comcast acquired a local cable provider at some point and just kept their policies intact (as long as they benefited Comcast). The inconsistencies in service, quality, support, etc. are legend. I can't really complain about our service though. They've been fairly decent throughout. Too bad they've boosted our "Triple Play" rates over $200/mo. in one year. We're going to end up with about the same services with more HD, better PQ and faster broadband for almost half the price from VZ. Such is life.

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Dealing with Comcast is just like what Tip O'Neill said about politics, everything is local.

Okay, the peer pressure was just getting to be too much (not to mention that my Comcast bill was as well), so I pulled the trigger. FIOS install will be on the 27th. I had a lengthy discussion with the VZ tech that I ran into a while back on an install down the street. He remembered me as a "TiVo Guy" and we discussed the signal issues, etc. He said that he was aware of one band that is problematic for some but not everyone. He said that that they were addressing any issues with attenuation at the moment but he expected things to be "normal" in the near future.

He listened to my wish list and took the time to walk me through all of the options, ensured that he had me down for three cable cards (it turns out that they only have "M" cards here) and then put me in touch with an official order desk person (named Princess...and she was! ). After my experiences with mistakes with my VZ wireless billing and hearing all of the horror stories about how tough it is to get them to fix their system if it isn't right from the get-go I had her read back every detail to be sure it was what I wanted. She was very patient and calm and did a very nice job of taking care of me.

With everything I'm getting including Extreme HD, HBO & Showtime, Setanta Sports Channel, an extra STB for my computer, 20/5 broadband, phone, etc. my bill will be about $155/mo. ...about $50 less than Comcast (for more of everything except the phone). The price is guaranteed for two years plus I get the current offer of $150 cash back after the first 30 days. It's not cheap by any means, but it's everything we wanted and I can live with that.

Now I have to break the news to Comcast. Such is life. I'm guessing they'll try to retain me, but my mind is made up!

Okay, the peer pressure was just getting to be too much (not to mention that my Comcast bill was as well), so I pulled the trigger. FIOS install will be on the 27th. I had a lengthy discussion with the VZ tech that I ran into a while back on an install down the street. He remembered me as a "TiVo Guy" and we discussed the signal issues, etc. He said that he was aware of one band that is problematic for some but not everyone. He said that that they were addressing any issues with attenuation at the moment but he expected things to be "normal" in the near future.

He listened to my wish list and took the time to walk me through all of the options, ensured that he had me down for three cable cards (it turns out that they only have "M" cards here) and then put me in touch with an official order desk person (named Princess...and she was! ). After my experiences with mistakes with my VZ wireless billing and hearing all of the horror stories about how tough it is to get them to fix their system if it isn't right from the get-go I had her read back every detail to be sure it was what I wanted. She was very patient and calm and did a very nice job of taking care of me.

With everything I'm getting including Extreme HD, HBO & Showtime, Setanta Sports Channel, an extra STB for my computer, 20/5 broadband, phone, etc. my bill will be about $155/mo. ...about $50 less than Comcast (for more of everything except the phone). The price is guaranteed for two years plus I get the current offer of $150 cash back after the first 30 days. It's not cheap by any means, but it's everything we wanted and I can live with that.

Now I have to break the news to Comcast. Such is life. I'm guessing they'll try to retain me, but my mind is made up!

Wish me luck!

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Rich,

I hope you have the same luck I did. Almost 3 weeks and (knock on wood) no problems. I just looked at my first bill online and it seems to be right, so that's the last hurdle. Of course, I turned my Comcast stuff in on 3/30 but they haven't been out to the tap to turn it off yet, so they still consider me a customer. According to the guy who called me after I emailed the CEO and COO that should happen today and they will credit me back to the 30th.

I picked up a NIM 100 on ebay a few weeks before my install and am really happy with using it instead of a wireless adapter. It is much faster and has the added benefit of stripping the MoCA from the line going to the TiVo. I paid $10 (new, but no power brick-a Linksys 12v worked fine) plus shipping. My installer said he didn't have any, but others have reported luck asking for them since they don't use them anymore. The ones currently available on ebay are a lot more, but you might want to keep an eye out for bargains.

I've been casually following all of the MoCA posts but I need to do a little more research. The TiVo's (and everything else) are hard wired/Ethernet, but I do have a couple laptops that need WiFi now and then. I have a D-Link Extreme N wireless router that the tech said I could use instead of using theirs. Guess I'll have to look at how MoCA would work or if it makes sense for me...soon!

David, since you're in the same neighborhood, how is your broadband speed? The reason I ask is that Comcast recently boosted theirs. Below is a recent test that I ran using Speakeasy. That was on a very good night using the Seattle connection and it can go down to half of that during the day, but it's generally above 20/5 Mbps.

Since VZ's is 20/5 I'm a little worried about an actual cut in speed now. Comcast used to have a download "blast" where the speed was higher for the first 10MB and then throttled back. I can't find any info about that now and wonder if that's still the case or if they opened up the pipe to compete w/VZ?

Just downloading a large file from any old site isn't a good measure. So I guess I need to find a test server that will allow a sustained download larger than the typical test sites to see if it eventually falls off.

Anyway, just wondering what you (or anyone else) were seeing. It won't deter me from switching but I was hoping for as fast or faster broadband than what I have currently. TIA!

Just downloading a large file from any old site isn't a good measure. So I guess I need to find a test server that will allow a sustained download larger than the typical test sites to see if it eventually falls off.

Anyway, just wondering what you (or anyone else) were seeing. It won't deter me from switching but I was hoping for as fast or faster broadband than what I have currently. TIA!

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I've done a bunch of speed tests (though not recently), and I pretty consistently get within 5&#37; (plus or minus) of the quoted 20 mbps. The best way I can think of to test "real world" speeds that high is to install a bittorrent client (such as utorrent), then cue up about 4 different linux distributions. Let the client open as many connections as it wants, and then set them all the files downloading simultaneously, and you'll be getting a METRIC TON of peers. I think I remember seeing at least 15 mbps down at one time using that technique.

BTW... I'm not sure when I last saw pixellation. I'm considering dropping my attenuation down form 6 to 3dB to see how that works.

Oh, I bet they hold you (as they do me) in the highest esteem...I bet you're considered "Current Occupant"!

Thanks Mark, me too!

I've been casually following all of the MoCA posts but I need to do a little more research. The TiVo's (and everything else) are hard wired/Ethernet, but I do have a couple laptops that need WiFi now and then. I have a D-Link Extreme N wireless router that the tech said I could use instead of using theirs. Guess I'll have to look at how MoCA would work or if it makes sense for me...soon!

From your lips to VZ's ears!

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Rich,

I know Comcast loves me...I just got back from a few errands to a message from the County Cable Administration about the complaint I filed against Comcast. If they can continue to bug me, I can continue to bug them! (BTW, the actually DID finally disconnect me this AM, it only took 2 weeks).

If you aren't using any of their set top boxes and you have them wire the ONT to your router via ethernet, there really is no need for MoCA (or their router). From what I've seen, they are using a Westell in the great Northwest, and some have claimed it is better the Actiontec deployed here in former Bell Atlantic territory. It does seem to have some issues with VPN's, so if you don't need it for their STB's you can avoid it altogether. If you do need it, and can easily connect your router to the ONT with ethernet, use the Westell in bridge mode to your router for MoCA for the STBs. Reports of interference by the MoCA channels have really decreased and that setup would only use the LAN channel, no WAN channel needed. Another method would be to use a NIM 100 (if the installer has one) from an ethernet port on your router to put the MoCA on the cable for the STBs. That would avoid having to do any setup on the Westell if you don't need router/switch/access point funtionality from it. With my layout and available cabling, going with MoCA to the router was the path of least resistance and seems to be working fine.

Motorola ONT1000JI. The JI apparently stands for "Just Inside", it's a fully integrated unit used for indoor installations - mine is in my basement utility room. It is a pretty good looking unit.

I have two TIVO HD's and one Verizon/Motorola STB installed.

I have no attenuators installed and zero problems with pixelation.

I did have the installer provision ethernet to the router, although the Verizon STB still connects to the network through the router, over coax.

Verizon gave me a Westell router, which I have since replaced with my own Linksys router. The Linksys is faster. I've got the Westell hanging off the Linksys for the sole purpose of giving the Verizon STB internet access. No need to bridge the Westell, just release your IP address and put your own router in it's place.

Someday I will get another TIVO and get rid of the Verizon STB and Westell router all together.

I've done a bunch of speed tests (though not recently), and I pretty consistently get within 5% (plus or minus) of the quoted 20 mbps. The best way I can think of to test "real world" speeds that high is to install a bittorrent client (such as utorrent), then cue up about 4 different linux distributions. Let the client open as many connections as it wants, and then set them all the files downloading simultaneously, and you'll be getting a METRIC TON of peers. I think I remember seeing at least 15 mbps down at one time using that technique.

BTW... I'm not sure when I last saw pixellation. I'm considering dropping my attenuation down form 6 to 3dB to see how that works.

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I pretty consistently get within 5% of the advertised speeds as well. I've done a few speed tests for various neighbors that have FiOS, and we're all getting right at the same speed.

Knock on wood, but I haven't had any pixellation problems in quite a while. I think they really have been working on the problem.

Bought a THD at Sears, special price; only one was the display, so no box, no cards, no Cablecard instructions, but I did get a manual. FiOS installer coming Friday with M-series cablecard - is there somewhere on the web I can get the install instructions to give him?
BTW the Tivo was sick and a new (refurb?) is being cross-shipped, arriving tomorrow. Presuming I need to install it asap to get the 11.x software!

Didn't see anywhere on the Tivo site to print the cable card instructions ..........

Be sure he follows every step carefully and doesn't try to skip over or combine anything. If followed correctly you should be up and running in no time.

TiVo is shipped with the software that was available at the time it was manufactured and will generally be older than the current software release. You should see an automatic upgrade to the current software and all of its features within 48 to 72 hours (usually less). TiVo's priority is to first get all of your guide data, then to upgrade the software.

You can try to force an upgrade by going to Messages & Settings->Settings->Phone & Network->Connect now. Try that a few times. Once the download has completed you may see "Pending restart" listed in the Last Status line on the Phone & Network Screen or on the System Information screen. TiVo will automatically install the upgrade at 2 a.m. your time or you can reboot it (unplug it and plug it back in) and it will update immediately.

Just called Verizon Fios about cablecards for two Tivo HD boxes. Was told that in my area (Ventura County) I would need 4 cards so they must still be dumping the S-Cards here. I Couldn't place the order since I originally ordered a Home Media upgrade and new HD reveiver for second tv and that order is still pending. I couldn't believe they sent me the same old quirky QIP 6416 DVR and so I am switching to TIVO on both TV sets. It is outrageous that I have to pay for a total of 4 S-cards at double the lease price. However, I'll do anything to avoid paying a bloated lease fee for the inadequate QIP 6416 DVR.